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Bebop Spoken There

Dee Dee Bridgewater: “ Our world is becoming a very ugly place with guns running rampant in this country... and New Orleans is called the murder capital of the world right now ". Jazzwise, May 2024.

The Things They Say!

Hudson Music: Lance's "Bebop Spoken Here" is one of the heaviest and most influential jazz blogs in the UK.

Rupert Burley (Dynamic Agency): "BSH just goes from strength to strength".

'606' Club: "A toast to Lance Liddle of the terrific jazz blog 'Bebop Spoken Here'"

The Strictly Smokin' Big Band included Be Bop Spoken Here (sic) in their 5 Favourite Jazz Blogs.

Ann Braithwaite (Braithwaite & Katz Communications) You’re the BEST!

Holly Cooper, Mouthpiece Music: "Lance writes pull quotes like no one else!"

Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

Josh Weir: I love the writing on bebop spoken here... I think the work you are doing is amazing.

Postage

16408 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 288 of them this year alone and, so far, 85 this month (April 30).

From This Moment On ...

May

Fri 03: Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle. 1:00pm.
Fri 03: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 03: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 03: Jake Leg Jug Band @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 03: Front Porch Blues Band @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Fri 03: Boys of Brass @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:30pm. £5.00.

Sat 04: Jeff Barnhart’s Mr Men @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 04: Jeff Barnhart @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free. Barnstorming solo piano!
Sat 04: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free (donations).
Sat 04: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm.

Sun 05: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £7.50.
Sun 05: Sue Ferris Quintet plays Horace Silver @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm.
Sun 05: Guido Spannocchi @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 06: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 07: Calvert & the Old Fools @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 5:30-7:00pm. Free. Live recording session, all welcome.
Tue 07: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Mark Robertson.
Tue 07: Suba Trio @ Riverside, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:30pm last entry). £21.00. All standing gig.

Wed 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 08: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 08: Conor Emery: Jazz Trombone, Stage 3 Final Recital @ Music Studios, Assembly Lane, Newcastle University. 7:00pm. All welcome, the venue is located in the lane behind Blackwell’s, Percy St., Haymarket.
Wed 08: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 09: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 09: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm.
Thu 09: Lewis Watson Quartet + Langdale Youth Jazz Ensemble @ Laurel’s Theatre, Whitley Bay. 8:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 09: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Guests: Josh Bentham (sax); Neil Brodie (trumpet); Dave Archbold (keys); Ron Smith (bass).

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Zoe Gilby Quartet @ The Bridge

Zoe Gilby (vcl); Mark Williams (gtr); Andy Champion (bs); Richard Brown (dms).
(Review by Lance)
"I said, 'This is one of my own tunes' and I actually saw a man in the audience put his head in his hands!" - Ben Castle. (Jazz UK November 2006.)
The above quote from "Bebop Spoken There" immediately ran through my mind as Zoe announced that 45% of the songs that she would sing tonight would be originals! 
I fought, and won, the battle to keep my hands as far away from my head as possible!
It wasn't exactly that difficult as I'd heard several of Zoe's originals prior to tonight and knew the quality they represented even though Rodger's and Harts' It Never Entered My Mind, with the unaccompanied verse, reigned supreme. Zoe can interpret a classic lyric that compares with the best.
I'd heard Z do The Midnight Bell, based on Patrick Hamilton's Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky trilogy, once or twice but tonight I thought she really cracked it. When our girl sang another original, Guilty Man - based on Ralph Gorse - the anti-hero of Hamilton's Gorse Trilogy - I bonded. This latter work, as we surely all remember, provided the basis for the award winning TV series The Charmer with Nigel Havers portraying the smooth tongued conman. Worth mentioning when introducing it I think.
This led me to ponder....
Jazz funding these days seems to be all about Projects - not gigs for the boys but Projects. So, why not, a Project based around the works of Patrick Hamilton? Zoe's got a couple under her belt already I'm sure the others could follow. For those unfamiliar with Hamilton's status Graham Greene (author of Brighton Rock) said that Hamilton wrote the best ever Brighton novel - West Pier. If you want to follow it up Zoe - I've got the books.
Back to the gig!
Zoe sang, to my ears, the best I've ever heard her. Perhaps the Festival frolics have added that extra dimension but tonight everything was spot on.
On guitar, Mark looked so suave that when he came into the bar I didn't recognise him - when he started playing I did!
Andy on bass - I no longer think of him in relation to other British bassists - Mingus, Brown and Chambers are the yardsticks I use - even Nils!.
Richard Brown. Perfect - he just chills out and does the business.
Great start to the season.
Lance.

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